His Eleventh Hour
by Katherine NotGreat
Summary: A final part of my Unexpected Joy series. The final hour on Earth of the most unfathomable of men, and his final thoughts. Redemption story. Dedicated to my friends from this fandom.


His Eleventh Hour

_London, 1939 A.D._

"Please…open the … doors!…"

His coarse whisper was barely heard, melting in the spring air, alongside with his troubled soul. The soul of a man, who had managed to live far more than a single lifetime, had experienced in his long life far more adventures than he had been willing to, but now was on the verge of facing the last adventure of his life – the one that no human being is to escape.

Though no longer a dark and sinister man,

We all heard that in one's last hour a person's feelings become more poignant than ever. It is actually true.

For James Matthew Stuart, ex-Duke and ex-pirate captain, there was even more in it.

_From far within him he heard a creaking as of rusty portals, and through them came a stern tap-tap-tap, like hammering in the night when one cannot sleep. "Have you been good-form today?" was their eternal question. A claw within him, sharper than the iron one._

"**Have you been good-form during your lifetime?", the voice demanded now.**

_Ah, envy not Hook!_

In his agony, he now saw shadows of long ago, though they were all blurred, and different voices within his troubled mind were as well blurred into one frightening whirlpool .

The phrases he heard, intelligible before, were now unraveling, like a bunch of seaweeds.

(No wonder, hadn't he once been called a raveling man?)

_Fame, fame, that glittering bauble, it is mine!_

_**Q**__u'est-ce qui passe ici si tard ?  
Compagnons de la Marjolaine  
Qu'est-ce qui passe ici si tard ?  
Gai, gai, dessus le quai._

_Your pride and vanity, Mr. Crofts, shall prove your undoing…_

_Que demande ce chevalier ?_

_Compagnons de la Marjolaine_

_Une fille a marier,_

_Gai, gai, dessus le quai..._

_James_, _you are my eldest son, and I love you_ _dearly, but you must remember one thing: YOU SHALL NEVER BE KING!_

_Do not stand in my will's way, or my anger shall be spread upon you!_

" _Shall we still be respectful subjects of the King, sir?" "You would have to swear, "Down with the King!" '_

The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son,

**3** and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding; and they were not willing to come.

_Old, alone, done for!_

"Open…the…doors…, I beg of you…"

"Jane, close the bedroom door immediately! Papa is very ill, and your children are romping like elephants!

" _Look who's talking! You are hardly more than a child yourself, Mary Anne! And I'd never forgive myself if Meg, Jim and I were to arrive too late!" The voice of the eldest sister, a tall brunette in her mid-twenties, faltered audibly. "You heard it yourself – Father asked the doors to be opened! " _

"_It's only his sick fancy, __**stupide**__! Mother told __**me **__to watch over him while she is gone to fetch Fr. Stephen, so…"_

"_GIRLS, ENOUGH!" _

_Never had Wendy –lady sounded more indignant…_

**11**

But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment.

**12**

So he said to him, 'Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?' And he was speechless.

**13**

Then the king said to the servants, 'Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'

Water… A kingdom…or rather a self-imposed king's crown – just for a glass of water….

No matter how many glasses are brought to his bedside by faithful Liza, his thirst is insatiable.

As if he again was in the open sea, but not on his ship – on a small boat, in danger from each forthcoming wave. Gallons of water around him – but nothing to drink..

Jesus answered and said to her, "Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again,

but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.

"Darling, I'm here at last!"

" We are here, with you, _filius meus" _

"Father Stephen, he is insisting that the doors should be opened..…"

"_Filia mea,_ your spouse is speaking not of ordinary doors… Now, we shall proceed…"

Ravelling….Ravelling….Ravelling………….

_And, all of a sudden…_

Open the doors of penance for me, The Giver of Life…

He remembers well enough the famous Danish storyteller's tale about the dying Emperor and a nightingale – even though his youngest is already considering herself "too old for fairy tales"…

But this time it is not the nightingale's voice that is now chasing away his demons and making the inner darkness step back.

He could swear it was a cock – a – doodle…….

**39**

Then one of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed Him, saying, "If You are the Christ, save Yourself and us."

**40**

But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying, "Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation?

**41**

And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong.

**42**

Then he said to Jesus, "Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom."

**43**

And Jesus said to him, "Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise."

And the darkness is disappearing…..

Light…Light all around….

"Credo, Domine, et confessio….. »

"_Filia mea, you'd better call your children here now…"_

"_MICHAEL!!! Be quick!!!!_

"_Jane, Mary Anne, make haste!"_

" …**et vita aeterna. ****Amen. **

And the eyes as blue as forget-me-nots are closed forever.

At last, after all, the unfathomable man is a loyal subject of the King.

And finally, the doors are wide open.

Finis.


End file.
